In the pantheon of New Zealand sporting cult heroes, not many have loomed larger than Filipaina.
Words like legend and great are tossed around liberally, but Filipaina had a unique impact on league in this country.
Others might have had longer or more decorated careers but few have shone brighter at their peak.
Filipaina captured the imagination because he was so different.
One of the first Polynesians to make a mark in Sydney league, commentators and pundits often struggled to work him out.
How could someone with such phenomenal power and strength – his ability to bump off tacklers was legendary - also exhibit such deft footwork and agility?
One minute he would be flattening a front rower, the next moment confounding a defensive line with a delicate chip, before regathering effortlessly, like a kid picking a daisy.
Filipaina was a special talent, and a humble hero. He had been a giant of the local game for Mangere East and Auckland, before moving across the Tasman in 1980.
I first saw Filipaina play in 1984, against Great Britain. At 99kg, he was the second heaviest across the two teams (only behind Kurt Sorensen) but mixed sleight of hand with sledgehammer, as the Kiwis swept the series 3-0 against a team that included Ellery Hanley, Joe Lydon and Garry Schofield.
His finest moments for the Kiwis came the following year, in the unforgettable series against Australia. League had reached an all-time high in this country, with television audiences topping one million on TV1 for the tests, as the players became household names, beyond the confines of their sport.
Filipaina was named man of the match in the first two games, then was a key figure in the historic 18-0 third test win.
"No one else had ever outplayed [Wally Lewis] . . . until I came along," Filipaina told the Herald in 2015. "When I got back to Sydney after the series, people were saying, 'good on you, Olly'.
"It was a series that turned the game, turned New Zealand league back then. We had been down the bottom of the ladder and that series brought us up to the top, close to Australia. It has gone on from there."
Filipaina was a man before his time, which had unfortunate consequences for his club career. As detailed in the excellent biography 'The Big O', Filipaina encountered dreadful racism in Sydney in the early 1980s.
He also suffered under rigid, dogmatic coaches, who had no idea how to get the best out of his talents, while he rarely played for dominant teams.
Filipaina was still an impressive figure – regularly voted the hardest player to tackle and the biggest hitter by his peers in Rugby League Week polls – but 109 games over eight seasons didn't do justice to his ability.
The situation reflects poorly on the clubs and coaches, but will never detract from the pure joy felt by Balmain, Eastern Suburbs or North Sydney fans as he fractured the opposition line with another blockbusting charge.
And his feats for the Kiwis (29 tests, 50 appearances) will never be forgotten, especially across 1984 and 1985, when he scaled heights rarely seen in the Black and White V.
"He was kind of the king," recalled Gary Freeman in The Big O. "Every time he got the ball there was excitement, a special noise that the fans made that he was going to do something with the ball – give a pass, steamroll someone, chip over the top."
Filipaina retained fond memories of the halcyon days at the downtown Auckland ground.
"The Carlaw crowd made me feel special and brought out the best in me, particularly the people in the concrete stands who were often poor migrants," said Filipaina in the Big O. "I loved entertaining them and giving them their money's worth. When they walked out of the ground, I wanted them to feel good about themselves when they went back to their tough jobs."
